UK specialist schools show strong improvement

Compared with other schools in the United Kingdom, specialist schools do well against a range of indicators - standards are higher and improving at a faster rate.

A new report from the Office for Standards in Education says pupils in specialist schools have performed better at GCSE than pupils in other schools since 1998 and the rate of improvement in results at GCSE continues to be faster in specialist schools.

It says, however, there is variation in performance between different types of speciality and between schools. Technology colleges show the most improvement and language colleges show the least.

The quality of teaching in specialist schools is generally better than in non-specialist schools, the exception being arts colleges, where teaching at Key Stage 3 is below non-specialist schools.

There have been significant improvements in the community role of specialist schools, particularly in their work with partner primary schools and local community groups.

The range and quality of the curriculum have improved in specialist schools. Pupils have a broader choice of lessons, especially from the age of 14, although vocational and work-related opportunities are still limited.

'Specialist Schools: a second evaluation' is downloadable as a PDF document.

What are specialist schools?

The UK's Specialist Schools programme was launched in 1994 to help secondary schools develop strengths and to raise standards in a chosen speciality in partnership with private sponsors.

From 1997 specialist schools have been expected to become a resource for other schools and for the wider community, including business and industry.

Schools can specialise in languages, sport, technology, the arts, maths and computing, music, science, business, engineering or humanities.

In September 2004 there were nearly 2,000 specialist schools, representing over 60 percent of eligible secondary schools.

Every local authority with secondary schools has at least one specialist school, and there is evidence of increasing diversity of specialist provision in many areas of the country as the numbers of specialist schools increase.

A Subtext story on specialist schools in Australia and the UK.